There is a path at the edge of Highland Park by the Edison border that leads to my children’s school. On one side are houses, but on the other side of the path are lots of brush and trees and weeds and who knows what else. The brook runs alongside all this woodsy brush.
Anyone able to identify these large leafy plants growing on the path?
I spotted a robin! There’s something green in the robin’s mouth: a worm, catepillar or a leaf?
No, it wasn’t the birthday party of any of these nursery school children. It was a Birthday Parade for the 63rd birthday of the State of Israel. When my daughter was in nursery, she wore one of these shirts.
Now she is in third grade, and she was taking photos along side her mom (me). And chatting with her friend. I’m not sure why she so wants me to be at the annual school parade for Israel, but there I was. I’ve been doing this for a while: here is the 2008 post of this little parade.
Some of her focus was on this dog named Winston. He is a therapy dog.
Here is a portrait shot of Winston the therapy dog. Anyone remember Belle, also a therapy dog? There is also a dog at the bottom of my 2009 RPRY March Around the Block for Israel post.
Getting back to the parade, there were children, teachers, parents and neighbors in our little march around the block for Israel. I had a great time chatting with a fellow blogger, Pragmatic Attic.
Thank you to the policemen of Edison, New Jersey who guarded our parade.
These cigarette-box-sized pieces of art designed by Jill Caporlingua will go in an old cigarette machine. Folks can then purchase Jill’s art from the cigarette machine instead of buying cigarettes (see ArtoMat.org). Isn’t that an ingenious way of recycling? I suppose they could buy other artists’ art, too, but wouldn’t you want to own one of these luscious little multi-colored boxes? Jill is my daughter’s art teacher and a friend.
For more photos with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
You can find an ArtoMat at a location near you on this ArtoMat machine listing page.
These tiny white flowers are on my andromeda shrub.
Same andromeda shrub: these flowers have turned a pinkish red color. What else do you see? Looks almost like blood to me. Click Andromeda and scroll down to see the bush in context – you will see how tiny the flowers are.
For more macros:
In introducing this edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival (KCC), I want to talk briefly about the Omer and roots of Judaism in agriculture. From Passover to Shavuot (7 weeks) we count each day. In the days of the Temple, barley was the first crop to be harvested. An omer of barley was offered each day at the Temple. Anyone have a recipe for barley bread? On the 50th day, wheat was offered, as the wheat harvest had begun.
Ilana-Davita presents Salmon in Foil and Tian-Vegetable Gratin.
Batya suggests Super Simple, Extra Healthy, Bake and Serve Meatloaf.
Mominisrael teaches how to make Brown Rice with Leeks, Carrots and Black Lentils.
Batya presents Yummy Late Lunch at HaGov!.
Take a look at the photos Sharon A shows on What’s Cooking? posted at The Real Jerusalem Streets.
Mirjam Weiss presents Never Eat Chocolate Like Bread – a poignant post about her mom’s history.
Mominisrael shares Food Memories of My Father.
Mirj talks The P Word – is it Passover or is it Pizza?
Batya presents Kitniyot, Legumes on Passover, A Different Perspective
Batya presents Did I Tell You What I Cooked?
Mrs. S. presents Gebrochts for the rest of us
Mirj presents Don’t Pass Over These Recipes
Batya presents That Was Fast, Flour Gone
Shimshonit gives us Passover Lemon Pie.
If you want a review of Pesach recipes, visit Pragmatic Attic’s What Everyone Else Made.
I didn’t get a chance to post any new Pesach recipes this year, but this is my mushroom pate recipe from last year. It was well-received by my relatives in Far Rockaway.
Time for Shlissel Challah! baked by PragmaticAttic.
What a wonderful time to visit the shuk in Petach Tikva with Mimi.
I wrote about mushrooms – shiitake and maitake.
Next issue will be hosted by JewishBoston.
If you would like to host, contact Batya.
If you would like to submit a post, use the submission form.
Pictured above, from left to right, are a portobello, maitake, and shiitake mushroom. I bought these at a local Asian supermarket on Route 27 in Edison called H-Mart.
Why use these special mushrooms? Why not just stick to white button mushrooms? In addition to the excitement of having something new in one’s soup, maitake and shiitake have medicinal benefits. Here’s a post on the health benefits of maitake (slows tumors, protects healthy cells from becoming cancerous, may reduce the need for insulin and more). This post on the health benefits of shiitake mushroom is on cancer.org. Susun at Planet Thrive writes about medicinal mushrooms in general.
Here are a bunch of maitake mushrooms.
This is a shiitake mushroom. Sometimes I put a shiitake mushroom in a mug of hot water and drink it the way someone would a cup of tea.
I’m going to use them in mushroom barley soup tonight. If I have leftover mushroom barley, sometimes I stuff it into my Friday night chicken. I’ve also made mushroom lentil soup. Here is another mushroom with shiitake soup.
Do you have any favorite mushroom recipes?
These two wet tulips are relaying the weather we have in New Jersey today.
The pink petals of my neighbor’s dogwood are showing off.
Yesterday I spotted this robin in a tree. Do you think he spotted me?
Today in the gray I saw two birds in a tree – the left bottom one is a robin. Can’t make out the right one – he’s so far off! Michelle suspects the one on the right is a “she” robin – the males have the brighter breast. Mating season?
We still have a bunny rabbit living in our backyard.
Ilana-Davita presents JPIX – The Spring Edition. See some beautiful photos by bloggers from Israel, the U.S., Ukraine, New Zealand and France. Oh, see three paintings, too! Enjoy.
Update: Batya has volunteered to do a JPiX in early August. Thank you, Batya!
Here is my rhododendron photo for First of the Month. Not that different than the April rhododendron, is it? I noticed a few brown spots in May.
However, a glance back at February looks a bit chillier and droopier:
See more first of the month photos:
